Senate Ag Committee member Tina Smith (D-MN) isn’t giving up getting a farm bill done by the end of the year. Speaking at Minnesota Farmfest on Wednesday, she said she’s not ready to talk about extending the 2018 farm bill into 2025.
“There’s too much that can’t sit in abeyance for that many months.” She added, “I think there’s a path to reaching a conclusion after the election after people know what the lay of the land is going to be politically.”
She didn’t describe the path that she sees, and her committee hasn’t even taken up a bill. Lawmakers in both chambers remain at odds over how to pay for making changes to commodity programs, including higher reference prices for the Price Loss Coverage program.
Ryan Yates, managing director of public policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said on an earlier Farmfest panel that it was time for Senate Ag to move a bill. “The delays have certainly been frustrating, but we are never going to give Congress an out,” he said.
Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and ranking member John Boozman, R-Ark., have released rival outlines of a farm bill, but not text. Democrats control the committee by just one vote, and Senator Warmock (D-GA) is on record saying the current proposal does not do enough for commodity programs. The House Committee approved farm bill is awaiting floor consideration.